*This blog wasn’t sponsored by the following companies. I just use them myself and find them helpful.*

You’re in the store, it’s crowded and a million labels stare back at you. Bright and bold, they shout out common turns of phrase.

All Natural

Chemical Free

Essential Oils

But what should you choose? Not all brands are the same, and even Whole Foods’ rankings can be misleading. Who has time to stand there staring at the multitude of options researching every single ingredient? What if all the ingredients aren't even shown? Sure, eventually you’ll learn them but wouldn’t it be nice to have something a little easier in these moments? Do more intensive research later when you have time?

Well, I’m here to share what I do, because not even I have the time or energy to make all the products that I use at home. I like convenience like everyone else. There are two go-to sources that I use; the Talk Dirty app and the Environmental Working Group (EWG). EWG’s app is called Healthy Living.  

EWG is nice because they are a not-for-profit organization trying to be far in rankings. The downside is that not everything is easy to find. I don’t tend to use them all the time especially when I’m searching in the store.

Talk Dirty has an easy to use app. The downside, they do push certain products but are very clear in their disclaimer. No shady business that I’ve seen so far.

The positive to both is that they provide a list of ingredients.

Queue *dancing*

Just one hop skip jump around either site to find research on specific ingredients.

Talk Dirty even provides links to all of their sources. It’s a one and done deal, something that only the EWG website offers. The EWG app provides the list of ingredients but nothing more.

Now if you need something quicker, each site provides a ranking of the ingredients. I would take that with a grain of salt. These can be misleading with certain chemicals because neither company takes into account the amount of the ingredient in the product. Ingredients known to cause allergic reactions can also be ranked higher though there is nothing dangerous about them. But still, using these sites will get you going in the right direction. It might even help you think before you pick up that next bottle of shampoo. Take a moment, search and see what the results show.

Have another site you love or thoughts on the ones above? Let me know in the comments! I love learning all the different options out there.

Love Kait